(The following story by Naush Boghossian appeared on the Long Beach Press Telegram website on February 18.)
GLENDALE, Calif. — The laborer charged with triggering the deadly Metrolink derailment was making a “twisted’ attempt to win back his estranged wife not trying to commit suicide when he abandoned his SUV on the tracks, police said Thursday.
Juan Manuel Alvarez, 25, deliberately parked his Jeep Grand Cherokee on the tracks and doused both the exterior and interior of his car with gasoline, planning to create a “spectacular’ scene to gain his wife’s sympathy, Glendale police Lt. Jon Perkins said .
“He could have torched himself, laid on the tracks, put the car on the tracks, but he didn’t choose any of those. We believe that this was nothing more than an attention-getting model to have his wife take him back.
“I don’t think he ever intended to kill himself.”
During Alvarez’s arraignment on Tuesday, prosecutors added arson charges to the 11 counts of murder with special circumstances already filed against the Compton man. He pleaded not guilty.
“It was a deliberate act with total disregard for anybody else,” Perkins said in providing new details of the Jan. 26 crash that killed 11 people and injured nearly 200 others. Police would not say whether Alvarez called his wife before or after the crash. However, detectives said while he was in the hospital he continually asked if his wife was there.
Alvarez’s attorney, Eric Chase, criticized the police for their comments.
“The statements of Glendale police today are not only vicious and callous but are a reckless distortion of the facts,” he said. The district attorney’s office refused to comment.
Witnesses told police they saw Alvarez park his SUV parallel to the tracks, then pour a liquid from a plastic container on its hood and roof. Moments later, the SUV was parked with its front wheels on the track and Alvarez on the passenger side with the door open.
Authorities have said that Alvarez was horrified when he saw the crash and ran to a friend’s house in nearby Atwater Village. He stabbed at his wrists and chest with scissors, which led to early speculation that the crash was the result of an aborted suicide attempt.
Two days after the crash, Metrolink filed suit against Alvarez. Rita Tutino, whose husband, Los Angeles sheriff’s Deputy James Tutino, died in the crash, filed a claim earlier this week, claiming Metrolink was negligent in its management and operation of the commuter line.
Rita Tutino said Thursday that whatever his intent, Alvarez knew that placing his car on the tracks would endanger the lives of hundreds of people.
“Why didn’t he just go buy her roses? Why didn’t he write her a letter? Why didn’t he go get help? You don’t put at risk the lives of hundreds of people,” she said. “I’m one of 11 families that lost a family member.”